Wipe with bamboo

Representative Image

Compiled by Jane Borges, Heena Khandelwal and Nimisha Patil

Ever wiped yourself with a bamboo towel? Manipur-based Madake, founded by Vidit Patni in 2019, offers a range of sustainable daily essentials, with towels as highlight. Priced between Rs 199-Rs 1,499, their range of towels made from bamboo is not only more sustainable but also highly absorbent in comparison with microfibre towels. The fact that they take limited space while travelling made them earn brownie points from us. They also offer soaps made from charcoal, sandalwood, and of course, bamboo. Choose a gift box if you want to send a thoughtful gift to someone you love without the worry of leaving behind a massive carbon footprint.
madake.in

History through a window

There are some accounts on social media that you follow for entertainment, and then there are those select few you follow to learn something. Belonging to the latter is Itihāsology, a youth-driven platform that offers multiple perspectives on historical tales to first spark curiosity, and then satiate it. One of their recent posts highlights a thumb ring created for Mughal emperor Jehangir in the 17th century.

"Ebba Koch [an Austrian historian] has noted that this original masterpiece carries the face of ‘Christ as Pantocrator, the awe-inspiring all-powerful king, framed on both sides by flying angels offering covered bowls'. Made of walrus tusk, the ring carries the face of the Virgin Mary on the inner side," reads the post. The story concludes with them quoting Koch saying, "the ring testifies to the cosmopolitan patronage of Jahangir [sic]".

Eric Chopra

Run by 20-year-old Eric Chopra, an undergraduate student of History at Delhi's St Stephen's College, the platform is not restricted to one genre. While one post talks about scientist Anna Mani's contributions to developments in the study of solar energy, wind speed, and ozone gas, another talks about a tomb in Thanesar, Haryana, attributed to Sheikh Chilli. Bedtime stories see him as a simple and foolish protagonist, but Chopra reiterate that Chilli was actually Darah Shukoh's spiritual master.
@Itihasology, Instagram

A library in the mountains

Something that we've always loved about Nandita Da Cunha's children's fiction is that it's very much rooted in reality. One of her earlier books, The Miracle on Sunderbaag Street, was inspired by the mini-green revolution that took place bang in the middle of the busy D'Monte Park Road, Bandra. Her new book My Trip to La-La Land (HarperCollins India), illustrated by Tasneem Amiruddin, is inspired by the work of 17,000 ft Foundation, an NGO that supports improving education in the remotest villages of the Himalayas. The book is narrated in the form of a diary by nine-year-old Tavishi, who is forced into joining her mum to set up a library in Ladakh, only to be caught in a grave misadventure. But it's under these tragic circumstances that Tavs, as she is fondly called, experiences a strange enlightenment as she learns to celebrate the mountains, its culture, people, and most importantly, books.
Available at all leading bookstores

A mum's smile

Shikha Khanna, an award- winning photographer, has put together a new book titled 100 Self Portraits 100 Dreams. Khanna, who specialises in natural light photography, says that the photos in her book depict a single, powerful moment in the lives of women that exemplifies their motherhood.

Shikha Khanna

"Whenever I asked mothers how they wanted to get clicked, they would usually give me a long list of what they did not want. Most of it was about their appearance, such as dark circles,'' Khanna explained. "So I began photographing the women at their most candid moments, and they said they felt beautiful. I would make my clients feel happy about themselves, and then capture this moment," says Khanna, who interviewed her 100th mom in February. "Any mom who looks at the book should be able to say, if these moms can do it, so can I."
shikhakhanna.com

For that memory fix

Mike dow

We know when our brain is giving up on us. The inability to remember the name of an acquaintance you've known for eons, or forgetting your own phone number, and perhaps worse, having absolutely no memory about what you did just yesterday - these are all signs of brain fog, a condition where you might feel less mentally sharp. With brain fog known to be a common long-COVID symptom, the need to realign the mind has never been more urgent. In his new audio book, The Brain Fog Fix, psychotherapist Dr Mike Dow has curated a three-week plan to "restore three of your brain's most crucial chemicals: serotonin, dopamine, and cortisol" - the imbalance of which, he says, affects the mind. Running at 7 hours 43 minutes, with an accompanying PDF that has N-back tests - used as an assessment in psychology and cognitive neuroscience to measure the working memory capacity - this audiobook should be heard at a slow pace. The solutions are simple - eating healthy, sleeping longer hours and reducing social media consumption. Not difficult, but Dr Dow shows you how.
Audible.in